


Operation Swan Queen

by Maubeerbluffin



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Gen, How Do I Tag, Mostly around Season 6 in Storybrooke, Post Season 7 in the Enchanted Forest, eventually anyway, humor...?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-20
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-10-07 10:12:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17364053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maubeerbluffin/pseuds/Maubeerbluffin
Summary: Hope Swan-Mills is the magical daughter of Emma and Regina from another realm, where they chose each other and got married. They live in the Enchanted Forest in the Castle with the entire family.But Hope feels left out and wants to go on adventures, like her family has and still does. She is always cooped up in the Castle, rarely allowed to leave, not even into the nearest town. (Not that that's actually stopped her.)Her frustration over her brother's recent adventure causes a chain reaction that sends her stumbling back in time and into another realm. Into a realm where Emma and Regina are not together but merely friends. Where Emma is with Captain Hook and Regina is alone. As soon as Hope realizes that, she makes it her mission to bring them (back) together. Luckily she has Henry (her in-another-realm-big brother) to help her. Operation Swan Queen is on. They've got parents to set up.Disclaimer:I do not own any of the characters or the settings. Everything is taken from or inspired by the show Once Upon A Time.





	Operation Swan Queen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes:  
> Okay, so... This is my first attempt at publishing ANYTHING.  
> I have no idea what I'm doing.
> 
> That being said, thank you for even looking at this? Yeah...
> 
> This chapter is kinda short, I'm hoping to make them longer in the future, if there is a future for this story. That totally depends on you guys.
> 
> I don’t have a beta and I'm also not a native speaker, meaning: sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes or any confusion about phrasing etc.
> 
> Have fun..?
> 
> P.S. I kinda added another part and looked it over again, changing small details to fit the general frame more.

"Could you pass me the potatoes, please?", Mom asked and Henry interrupted his story to pick up the large bowl in front of him, grunting softly as he strained to heave it across the long table to his mother.  
"Thank you, dear."

"I'll never get used to these monstrous tables...", Henry complained as he sat back down to continue eating.

"Maybe you shouldn't travel so much, then.", Ma suggested a little roughly. "You could stay here." She continued, softening a bit. "With us."

Henry shuffled uncomfortably in his seat. "Ma...", he whined, like he were still a little boy and not 23 years old.

Mom reached out to cover her wife's hand reassuringly. "It's alright, Henry", she caught his eyes, smiling warmly. "We know how exciting traveling realms can be, especially for you. Your mother and I just miss you sometimes." She squeezed her wife's hand.

Ma's face relaxed as she looked at her wife. She had this weird look in her eyes, the one she always got when she looked at her. Like she was miles away-

 _No,_ Hope corrected herself. _Like_ they _were miles away, together_ _and probably kissing or something._  
She rolled her eyes and groaned. Turning back to her older brother, she asked in the most innocent voice she could muster:"Continue the story? Please?"

Henry looked at his sister and she had to crane her neck to hold his thoughtful gaze over the height of the carafe that stood on the table between them. They often did contests like that.  
One time, she had even beaten her brother in a sword fighting match.

Well... He had probably let her win. He liked to test her, challenge her. And if she showed enough determination, he would usually cave and give her what she wanted.

Hope seemed to have passed this test aswell because Henry's eyes glinted mischievous and he continued in a low tone:"The pirates were still behind us and they kept coming closer and closer. It was clear that we wouldn't be able to outrun their ship. But then-"

Henry broke off to rearrange the dishes - He pulled the carafe aside to push his plate in it's place. Taking his knife and holding it over the sea of gravy between his potatoes he exclaimed:"-a giant squid rose up from the waves!"  
He held up his other hand and wiggled his fingers in her direction like tentacles.

"BLAAAAARGH!"

Hope leaned forward on her chair, eyes rounded in fascination and her feet tucked under herself.  
"How big was it?", she threw in.

Henry looked at his hand, then at his knife - the ship. "At least thrice the size of our ship!", he claimed earnestly. "It stretched it's tentacles and wound itself around it-"

He held up his improvised miniature ship and slowly closed his tentacle-fingers around it for dramatic effect.  
Hope was so engrossed in her brother's story, she didn't notice the loving smiles their mothers shared in that moment.

"How did you escape?", she asked, rising to her knees in excitement.  
Henry only shrugged, breaking with his performance and causing his sister to furrow her brows with skepticism.

"You didn't fight the squid, did you?", she accused.

Henry dropped his knife and sighed:"No... We were safed by the pirates."

"The ones that had been hunting you?", now Hope was confused. That wasn't a very heroic adventure.

"Yes", Henry admited sheepishly. "They- uh... We found out then, that they had been hunting the squid all along, we just got caught in the crossfire."

Hope wasn't sure whether to laugh or be disappointed.

The latter won out.

"Pirates saved you." It wasn't really a question.

"Yeah", Henry admited. "Captain Hook and his crew...", he scratched the back of his head, something he had picked up from their ma.  
"They needed squid ink."  
At least he seemed a little ashamed about it.

Hope dropped against the backrest and crossed her arms.  
It was so stupid.  
Except that it wasn't. Her brother got to see a giant squid. She glared at her brother accusingly. He could have been a hero, he could have fought the squid. Instead, he let himself be saved by stupid pirates. If she had been there, she would have-

"Hey, kid", Ma tried softly and reached out to squeeze her shoulder. She shot Henry an encouraging smile.

Hope kept her arms crossed stubbornly, but she couldn't bring herself to shrugg off her mother's hand.

Ma got up from her chair, still holding her arm. She crouched down next to her and looked up at her with understanding eyes.

"I know you feel like they're just _stupid_ stories, and maybe they are... But they're also true. And they're important to your brother", she added almost as an afterthought.

Hope opened her mouth to say that it was okay, she didn't want to hear this. Sometimes Ma could be like grandma, with her silly speeches. Empty words, those stories wouldn't change anything.  
And yes, she was grateful that her brother told her these stories because most of the time they were amazing. But with each time he returned with another, her hope to one day go with him grew smaller.

"Hey!", Henry exclaimed excitedly, as if he'd just had a brilliant idea. He walked around the table and Hope looked up, relaxing a little at her brother's optimistic smile.

"You know-" He crouched down on her other side. "In maybe two weeks-" He took her little hand in his.

Hope didn't dare to believe... would he finally take her with him?

He smiled so brightly, almost as if he saw something in her.

"I'll be back from another realm again, with a _great_ story.", he looked at her expectantly, as if he were waiting for her to be excited.

Hope's face fell.

Henry didn't notice. Or if he did, he didn't show it. He was fumbling with his pocket.

"Here", he pulled out a little bottle with a dark liquid inside it. "It's yours, if you want it", her brother held the bottle out for her to take.

"What is it?", Hope asked. Though she already knew the answer. _Ink?_

Henry kept smiling.  
"Squid ink", he said, as if that were something special.

Hope didn't understand. She looked at her mother.

_What kind of a souvenir is that?_

"It is powerful magic", Mom explained openly. She was using the same voice she did, when she would read her bedtime stories of mystical creatures. She leaned forward in her chair. "It can capture even the strongest of magicians", she finished promisingly.

 _Magical ink that can catch_ any _magician_ _?_

Hope didn't really care. They were just trying to make her feel better. They gave her these souvenirs so she wouldn't run off and 'do something stupid' again.  
She clenched her little hands into fists.

All they ever did was exclude her and then present these stories so they wouldn't have to feel guilty about it.  
Her heart clenched painfully.

_They don't_ _see me._

"Liar!", she yelled and tore herself away from Ma and Henry. She jumped off her chair and stomped for the door. Mom had flinched at the word. And the bottle still in Henry's hand had been magically flung against the wall, where it shattered. The twisting feeling in her stomach at her mom's expression made Hope want to run away.  
She had deliberately tried to hurt them, and it had worked.

Ma tried to stop her. "Hope, I'm sorry, I know you want to be a hero too. But it's just too dangerous."

Hope stopped. She tried to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall.  
And failed miserably.  
She wiped at them, angry at herself.

"You don't know anything! You don’t know what it's like!", she whirled around.  
"You're all out there on adventures, all the time! And I'm always _here_! I just want to come with you! But you don't want me!", a sob escaped her throat and her shoulders were shaking.

"Hope, no...", Mom tried to reach for her, but she was already running down the hall.

Henry looked shocked. He took some steps after his sister, but Mom shook her head and laid a hand on his shoulder.  
"She's too angry right now."

Henry winced.

Ma smiled sadly.  
"It's not your fault, Henry. She-", she trailed off, her gaze distant, on the door where Hope had vanished.  
"She feels left out..."

He shook his head with a stunned expression on his face.  
"I thought she'd be happy...", he looked up at his mother. "I actually thought, she would be excited about a new story."

"She knows you were only trying to help." Ma squeezed his other shoulder.

They stood like that for awhile, Henry with his mothers, their hands on each of his shoulders.

"I'll see if she wants to talk", Ma offered and Mom nodded. But she didn't move.

Mom cupped her son's face in her palms and pressed their foreheads together, he was so much taller than her now. Between all her duties as Queen and his frequent journeys, she rarely got to see him anymore. 

"I'm glad you're home", she whispered with a smile.

Henry's lips twitched into a slight smile aswell and he wrapped both his moms in a tight hug.  
"Me too."

 

____________________

 

Hope shut the massive door to her room with a loud thud.

 _They want to keep me locked away_ forever.

She thought and immediately felt guilty.  
Because she knew that it could be dangerous out there, they were trying to keep her _safe._

 _But it's not_ fair _!_

Hope wanted to go on adventures too! Everyone in this family was a hero. Everyone but her.  
And if she wasn't a hero, how could she ever fit in? 

The answer seemed simple:

 _I can't._  
_I don't belong here._

Her shoulders slumped and her little frame sunk to the cold stone floor. She drew her knees close to her chest and squeezed her eyes shut in an attempt to make everything dissappear. She didn't want it to be true. But it felt too much like everything she had felt ever since she was forbidden to leave the castle.

She felt so alone.

Tears were streaming down her cheeks and forceful tremors shook the little girl.

How could she have ever believed that she would be just like Ma? That she would be a saviour and break curses and slay dragons and safe fallen queens?

She would never be strong enough, or brave enough. She was too weak.

She wasn't a _hero_. And her family knew that. That's why she needed to be _protected_. That's why _they_ had to keep her here. Ma had said it: It was dangerous out there.  
But only for her.

They were the heroes and she was just a little girl.

 _She_ didn't fit. Not with her family and not in this _world._

_They don't need me._

Hope shook her head and clasped her hands over her ears to ward off these traitorous thoughts. She didn't hear anything but the hammering of her heart. Her eyes were shrewd shut as she tried to block everything out.

But it just kept getting louder and louder, until it all became too much and it sounded like the wind was roaring in her ears. Her heart tugged and squeezed in her chest, like it was fighting a battle inside her.

She just wanted it all to stop. She wanted to be away from here, away from this castle and the family that didn't need her.

Why was it so _loud_?

Hope opened her eyes.

Before she could grasp what was happening, the floor to her feet opened up and she was torn into a golden circle of swirling energy.

And then Hope was falling.  
She was tumbling downward _fast._ But like a leaf being tossed around in a storm, her fall was interrupted again and again when the invisible power picked her up and let her go.

Her mouth was wide open in a silent cry for help.  
Although she didn't really know if it was silent, all she could hear was the roaring wind and her pounding heart.  
She didn't really think about what was happening, her mind was already struggling to keep up _._ All she could focus on, was the howling storm around her.

She was surrounded by energy. Golden threads of light that were moving in spirals around her. And these threads were so thickly woven together, they created walls around her.

She was in a tube of light and wind that was now opening in front of her.

As quickly as the portal had swallowed her, as quickly did it spit her out again.

Her landing was forceful, the hard ground underneath her doing nothing to cushion the fall.  
She yelped as the air was pressed out of her lungs and she tried desperately to fill them again.

She lay like that for a moment, eyes open with fear, until she could feel her body relax again. She didn't know for how long she had been falling, it had simultaneously felt endless and been over in the blink of an eye. But all the while, she had been unable to breathe. She only realized this now, her lungs burning and screaming for air.  
She was still struggling to breathe, a mixture of coughing and wheezing, but after a while her chest expaned in a shaky deep breath, easing the invisible weight that had been pressing down on her little body.  
The air she inhaled was cold and burned her lungs, but it was a relief nonetheless.

Still lying on the ground, Hope began to take in her surroundings. She saw a clouded sky and felt the wind caress her cheek. She was outside.  
Hope clould hear a soft roaring sound, rising and falling in volume. It was unlike anything she'd ever heard.  
She rolled around in an attempt to get up and see where the sound was coming from.  
Her muscles didn't quite cooperate and she only managed to sit up a little, but it was enough for her to take in the scene around her.

She was at a beach, at least that's what she thought, she'd only ever seen paintings.  
The mixture of sand and gravel under her hands, now softer when they weren't colliding with her forcefully, was different from the sand she knew from the pit on the training grounds of her castle. This one was almost colorless in comparison and much more wet. It stuck to her hands and pinched uncomfortably between her fingers. She loved it.

 _The ocean_! She thought suddenly, the realization of where she was, hitting her and almost knocking the air from her lungs again. But this time it was excitement that took her breath.

The water wasn't far away, maybe 3 feet to her right, and Hope was finally able to get up, new energy coursing through her veins. She brushed the sand from her hands and took a tentative step towards the ocean. It stretched far beyond the horizon and the waves seemed alive, being born from the sea and rising up in pride before crashing and creating little waves that stretched across the shore. It was beautiful.

Hope couldn't believe what she was seeing, this had to be a dream. She was still in the castle, in her room, sound asleep. She had to be.  
This was impossible.

But even if it was just a dream, she'd be damned if she wasn't going to enjoy her freedom.

A giggle fell from her lips and she couldn't help the smile that lit up her face. She whiped away the tears that were still visible on her cheeks and all but ran to the edge of the ocean.

Hope stopped at the shore and watched as the soft waves encircled her feet in greeting. Her leather boots prevented the water to touch her skin and without a second thought, the girl flopped down on the sand to take them off. She took off her socks aswell and stuffed them into the boots before carelessly flinging them to the side.

Hope got up and hurried into the ocean. She shrieked excitedly, which ended in another giggle, as her feet made contact with the cold water.  
She could feel the sand being swooped away under her soles and stared in awe as her feet dissappeared. The movement of the sand tickled. It was the best feeling in the world.

She closed her eyes and breathed in the fresh air. It tasted salty on her tongue. Hope tried to memorize that taste, to memorize it all. How the water felt against her skin, how the wind tore at her clothes and whipped her hair around wildly, how the waves seemed to wisper of freedom and adventure...

Hope wanted to stay here forever, but she knew that this moment was likely to end soon, that she would wake up and find herself in her room again, in the castle.

But somehow, by some miracle, she didn't. She didn't wake up. And she began to hope that maybe this was more than a dream after all.

The moment was interrupted nonetheless, by yet another unfamiliar sound growing louder begind her.

Hope opened her eyes and turned towards the direction the strange humming and gurgling seemed to be coming from.

She recognized the strange yellow carriage as her mother's "car". She had seen it in a photo album her mothers had shown her once. If she remembered correctly, mom had given it to cousin Robin and her girlfriend Alice.

The bug slowed, it made another, louder gurgling sound and then the humming stopped. The door opened and a pair of black leather boots stepped onto the sand. Long blonde hair was whipped around by the wind and an arm covered by red leather slammed the door shut.

The woman turned around and hurried towards the lost girl at the shore.

"Kid! Are you okay?"

Hope could only stare at her.

"Ma?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off all: Thank you for reading :)  
> And let me know what you think, please? Criticize the sh*t out of me, if you must. I really just want to know how I can improve this.


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